AuthorTopic: Fave Books / Currently Reading (Read 701178 times)

Life: A User's Manual by Georges PerecThe Book of Disquiet by Fernando PessoaRequiem for a Dream by Hubert SelbyThe Power of Now by Eckhart TolleKnickerbocker's History of New York by Washington IrvingThe Devil And Sonny Liston by Nick ToschesMasters of Atlantis by Charles PortisThe Lady in the Lake by Raymond ChandlerThe Gnostic Gospels by Elaine PagelsHitchcock by Francois Truffaut and Helen ScottThe Jesus Mysteries by Timothy Freke and Peter Gandy

Currently Reading:

The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals by Michael Pollan

Sarah

Rainer, one of my biggest work-related regrets is that I didn't get to work on that Perec book. Godine first started considering it when I was working there (Perec was still alive at the time, I do believe): I read the original and was in charge of getting a couple of outside readers to review it. At the time, it was too ambitious a project for the company to take on. I was very pleased when I saw that David had finally pubished it, but by the time he did I was long gone.

This is only tangentially related to this thread, but sometime this week I recalled that Best Show segment in which Mawky Ramone discussed his newfound career of writing romantic Harlequinesque novels. The line that cracked me up, in which he explained how prolific he had become: "These stories write themselves..."

Rainer, one of my biggest work-related regrets is that I didn't get to work on that Perec book.

Godine! Geez Looweez ... "not too shabby." There is a literary rockstar on the board.

I'm curious about how translations get published. Did Godine commission the David Bellos translation? Or did Bellos obtain rights from Perec to translate his book and just take it upon himself to look for a publisher? Were you reading the raw Bellos translation or the original La Vie mode d'emploi)?

I also love the Bellos Perec bio, A Life In Words. I bought it at a library booksale for 50 cents (it had never been checked out and was stamped INSUFFICIENT INTEREST).

Omar is David Bellos to Scharping's Perec. Did I say that correctly?

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Sarah

I was reading the French original, which David (I don't mean to be a name dropper, but he'll always be David to me--hell, the man owes me a letter, even!) had picked up at the Frankfurt Book Fair (I think) and passed on to me to read myself and to send out to various readers for review. As I said, I was no longer working at Godine when the translation finally came out--it's a big book, and Godine was and probably still is perennially poor, since the books cost so much to make, what with the fancy production standards, so David probably had to scrounge around for grant money. I'm sure he commissioned Bellos to do the translation, though. In my experience, few translators translate on spec; they wait for a publisher to hire them.

I'm sort of amazed Godine rings bells for you, actually. For a small press, it's well known, but many have never heard of it. It's where I got my start in the biz. I think my biggest achievement there was to work with Richard Howard when he was translating Les Fleurs du Mal (you'll find me lurking in the acknowledgments). 'Twas a proud day for the press when the book won the National Book Award.

I've placed a hold on that edition of "The Flowers of Evil" at my local library. I'm all giddy now. The "Godine" label resonates for me in the same way that "John Peel" does for many music fans (myself included). I've always thought that Godine must have been either a trust fund kid or living hand to mouth. BTW, I neglected to include another Godine classic on my best-of list:

I was introduced to Godine via Perec via Paul Auster's "The Art of Hunger" that includes a review of LAUM. Perec figured prominently in my marriage proposal. I wedged the ring into the book and motioned my soon-to-be fiance over to ask her "what does this mean in English?" Whereupon she saw the teensy rock I could barely afford. Alright, take your finger out of your throat ...

As far as name-dropping goes, I was an uncredited "transcriber" of a volume of "poetry" that Hyperion published in the mid-90s. If I told you who the author was, I would have to kill you, and violence ain't my bag.

Emily, when I discovered that "The Stray Shopping Carts of Eastern North America: A Guide to Field Identification" won the award for oddest book title, my first thought was that Davezilla needs to ramp it up and cash in:

Susannah

I just finished Norman Mailer's "The Executioner's Song," and am now reading Flannery O'Connor's "Wise Blood". I read her complete collected short stories in high school but never got a chance to read the novel.

Favorites:

I, Claudius--Robert GravesThe Winshaw Legacy (What A Carve Up)--Jonathan CoeWaterland--Graham SwiftShamela/Joseph Andrews--Henry Fielding The French Lieutenant's Woman--John FowlesLos Angeles: The Architecture of Four Ecologies--Reyner BanhamMoscow to the End of the Line--Venedikt Eerofeyev

I'm obsessed with the website www.goodreads.com. It's a library/book-cataloguing site that also has a social networking function. My user name is susannahlaura, if anyone is interested in creating a library. I'm in the process of editing mine, it's surprisingly fun!